Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly Volume 14 Article 6 Number 2 Winter 1987 1-1-1987 The nE velope, Please: Problems and Proposals for Electronic Mail Surveillance C. Leigh Haynes Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/ hastings_constitutional_law_quaterly Part of the Constitutional Law Commons Recommended Citation C. Leigh Haynes, The Envelope, Please: Problems and Proposals for Electronic Mail Surveillance, 14 Hastings Const. L.Q. 421 (1987). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_constitutional_law_quaterly/vol14/iss2/6 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The Envelope, Please: Problems and Proposals for Electronic Mail Surveillance The King hath note of all that they intend, By interception which they dream not of.1 Introduction Consider the envelope, and what it represents in twentieth century America. Perhaps of primary importance is the envelope's two-faceted role in the posting of mail. It provides a convenient display of necessary information for the letter's delivery, and cloaks the letter's contents from all but the recipient. Utility aside, an envelope may symbolize the cere- mony of unveiling a secret, as when a ritualistic request for "The envel- ope, please" creates the usual suspense. An envelope may evoke sentiment, whether romantically sealed with a kiss or ominously ad- dressed with pasted letters and numbers cut from newsprint. It is diffi- cult to imagine a system of correspondence without the folded piece of paper that comprises the physical envelope.